English Explanatory Dictionary

excommunication

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The act of excommunicating, disfellowshipping or ejecting; especially an ecclesiastical censure whereby the person against whom it is pronounced is, for the time, cast out of the communication of the church; exclusion from fellowship in things spiritual.

Pronunciation

/ɛkskəmjuːnɪˈkeɪʃən/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-excommunication.wav

Word forms

excommunication excommunications

Etymology

From Middle English excommunicacion, from Late Latin excommūnicātiō. By surface analysis, excommunicate + -ion. Displaced native Old English āmǣnsumung.

Synonyms

excommunion disfellowshipment

Derived words

counterexcommunication
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